Morgan Stanley Fined for Role in Facebook IPO

Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Morgan Stanley is the first major financial entity to be sanctioned in relation to Facebook’s IPO.

Massachusetts officials are fining Morgan Stanley $5 million for not disclosing a revenue shortfall with the public ahead of the social network’s troubled IPO in May.

Massachusetts’ secretary of the commonwealth, William F. Galvin, accused the bank of coaching Facebook in how to share information with analysts, putting ordinary investors without access to such information at a disadvantage, according to DealBook, a financial news site published by the New York Times.

According to DealBook, Morgan Stanley has neither denied nor admitted guilt in the case.